Contemporary Personalities according to a weighty contemporary opinion, " the best since Canning.55 His merits had been suggested four years earlier, when his efforts were far happier and more fruitful than those of Lord Salisbury in enabling Major Kitchener and Monsieur Raffray to hold their own against their aggressive and impudent German colleague on the Commission for the limitation of the Sultan of Zanzibar's territory. The underlying principle of his Foreign Office administration was to be a sane and sound Imperialism ; and this often in the teeth of much opposition within the Cabinet. He would have nothing to do with those who, in season and out of season, urged Mr. Gladstone to retire from Egypt; and to his imperishable honour he remains personally responsible for the retention, even now with some measure of control, of what is still strategically qrie of the most important dependencies of the Crown. * In 1892, the question of the evacuation of Uganda was acute ; the Government did not see its way to help the British East Africa Company, which had reached its pecuniary limitations—a fertile and fragrant province was to be left to its fate. Happily, the final appeal fell on Lord Rosebery's willing ear. He ordered the brilliant young Consul-General at Zanzibar, Sir Gerald Portal, to proceed to Uganda and send in an independent report of the value, and the promise, of the land. Portal had no hesitation. The country, he urged, bore every mark of prosperity and revival, Uganda must remain a British possession, and a railway to the Lake should be begun forthwith. The Foreign Secretary recognised all that the report advocated and insisted on its adoption.